One of the best city perks is regular walkable wine shop wine tastings

A related one is: Just giving people cash is hugely beneficial and improves their lives. We have tons of studies on this from UBI pilots. But in the U.S. we're allergic to giving anything to poor people.

“Art auctions and fairs become a choreographed attempt to convince the world that everything is fine. But everything is not fine. And most of the people making the work that keeps this machine running know it.” —Damien Davis

for days we got the "Showdown with Socialism" buildup only to get the payoff of Trump essentially saying "wow this socialist guy fuckin rules. I, on the other hand, am a fascist". what a country. what an era bsky.app/profile/self...

This is because our country has spent the last 100 years designing all of our infrastructure around cars. Some of the most expensive and desirable areas in any state are the dense, walkable areas. But people can't afford to live there.

I'm really tired of people acting like car dependency happened organically when even a cursory look at history will make it clear that automakers pushed infrastructure and even zoning to juice car sales.

I really thought we'd emerge from covid with an appreciation of the frailty of life. But Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan... the causal dehumanization of refugees... it's hard not to feel like we're all just bodies for the elite meat grinder.

So Dems demanded an extension on subsidies or else. Then they caved. The GOP being smart is now adding abortion restrictions to a subsidies extension forcing Dems to either sell out on abortion or vote no on the subsidies they demanded in the first place. They just keep getting clowned.

It is wild, if not surprising I guess, that whether people could fly somewhere at Thanksgiving seemed to have more political effect than whether people could *eat* at Thanksgiving.

Right, we are here because Republicans are trying to hurt people. And also worth noting that the people you're mad at now the outliers in the party at the moment. The larger D caucus is pissed.

I got to spend part of my day coaching Ultimate Frisbee to 50+ Gx athletes ages 10-19. These types of clinics always fill my cup and I didn’t realize just how much I needed it!

bring back maligning racism as the mark of a stupid person. prejudice is the mark of an idiot. if you believe that shit i bet you also don’t wipe your ass

i want to repeat this: mamdani and spanberger have run similar campaigns tailored to their respective electorates and it is maddening to watch political journalists attempt to create some broad contrast where none exist

WOW. 81% of women 18-29 voted for Mamdani, 80% for Sherril, and 78% for Spanberger. Gen Z women aren't playing around.

“Black suffering has never moved this country to act. Maybe seeing white families skip meals will finally make us admit that food insecurity isn’t fate—it’s a choice politicians keep making.” @angryblacklady.blacksky.app

Breaking the 12 year long GOP supermajority in Mississippi seems like a big deal. A bunch of Black women mayors seems like a big deal. Can’t wait for the hot “How Democrats winning is bad news for Democrats” takes.

No matter how hard people try to convince us having empathy is wrong, it is right. No matter how hard people try to convince us that diversity is a weakness, it is a strength. No matter how hard people try to convince us that love is limited, it is unlimited.

Food bank director: “for every meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine. There’s no way we can meet that gap.”

Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.

"normies do not care about this thing and so it is no use raising a stink" is imho just an excuse for not doing politics, which is the job of making normies care about something

Rabbits may be cute but they are deadly for Australian flora & fauna This pic was taken 5 months after fence was erected. 🧪⚒️ au.news.yahoo.com/incredible-c...

People hate feeling like they're being manipulated or patronized, and the poll-tested, focus-grouped, incessantly right-shifting position of the mainstream Democrat produces that feeling much more reliably than it produces votes.

What I don't have in experience, I make up for in integrity. And what Andrew Cuomo lacks in integrity, he could never make up for with experience.

“the constitution forbids race conscious remedies” would be news to the people who wrote the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments

Cars. Ruin. Everything.

Seeing many posts about how ICE isn't trained. That's not really the problem. The problem is what they were sent to do, not whether they're qualified to do it.

America is in crisis. So it's a small relief that the rest of the world is actually getting remarkable stuff done with energy. We just passed a huge milestone globally! Now back to work on America. billmckibben.substack.com/p/something-...

The deference we give to drivers is astonishing: speeding, blowing through red lights, crashing without a whisper; yet we jump on non-drivers the moment they step out of line.

Some interesting reading.... theecologist.org/2022/jan/19/...

I am just so fucking proud of her.

This piece gets at something that I've been struggling to articulate: We've seen this exact push-pull before. When Republicans were out of power in the 1990s they invented "political correctness" to pretend they were being censored. Then they went right back to censoring once they had power again.

I think if we actually enforced the idea that lying to Congress lands you in prison and ends your career, we wouldn’t have many of the problems we do. Republicans aren’t going to, so Dems need to try even if they think it won’t work

"Common decency stigmatizes people that do not participate in it—removes them from voluntary association. We indeed have to live with one another, but terms and conditions apply." me on why Ezra Klein should be ashamed / why shame is Good Actually www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

I genuinely cannot believe that Ezra Klein said we should run pro-life candidates in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri; three states that recently held abortion referendums where the pro-choice side won!

It is truly the lesson that Democrats refuse to learn no matter how many times it fails. What made the biggest impact - when Stacey Abrams mobilized the base and invested in get out the vote in GA and almost won. Fight the voter suppression and we can get the numbers.

I have a major piece in Bloomberg Citylab today. Should the US let transit fail, as Pennsylvania is already doing? And if not, what are the arguments we need to let it succeed? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“Why does transit seem to be in an endless emergency? Why is it so easy to assume that transit’s financial situation is hopeless? Because we have constructed our transportation funding streams to make transit’s costs visible, while the costs of car dependence are mostly concealed.”

But a more serious point I make from time to time: Trump is not acting alone in this, and blame must fall on the GOP and on the US conservative movement more broadly. Decades of rhetoric from the right brought us to this moment.

The family of Demartravion “Trey” Reed is seeking an independent autopsy following the Delta State University student’s death on Monday, when his body was found hanging in a tree on campus. buff.ly/4tv2FgO

last night as i was trying to wind down for bed i had a unified theory of what the fuck just happened, and i wrote it down, and filed it under "well, i can't talk about this on main without sounding insane until and unless the perp gets caught and is provably a groyper" anyways, great news! (1/X)

We should outlaw large trucks in city centers and require them to offload their cargo to the city to smaller trucks or kei cars at a way station outside the city.

oh we're supposed to go back to normal and pretend that major players in our government and media didn't spend multiple days telling us democrats deserve to be hunted like dogs in the street because their favorite podcaster got ganked? not me, thanks! some people don't forget!

Any any interaction I have with a vehicular cyclist goes the same as with any libertarian. Blood boiling and am glad those interactions are few and far between

If Charlie Kirk had been, say, a Black Panther or member of the Nation of Islam and went around college campuses saying white people weren't qualified to fly planes or deserved to die in mass shootings, no one would eulogize him by saying he was "practicing politics the right way."

The question the media won't ask Conservatives, gnashing of teeth, is what do they want to do about rising political violence? Conservatives' answer is either more violence but against people they perceive as their political enemies, or nothing. Meanwhile, we want less violence and gun control.

Also also: for the respectability politics people inclined to shush me because then the right will say the left is violent, where have you been? They have always said that—about peaceful protest, heckling in fancy restaurants etc. and they have never cared whether it’s true

The GOP will certainly politicize this no matter what comes to light about the shooter; they will rant and rave about the "violent left" and will make a hero of Kirk. But the plain truth of the matter is that permissive gun laws put every single one of us at risk.

Friendly reminder. Road safety campaigns must speak directly to and target those that perpetrate the greatest harm.